THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 28, 1996 TAG: 9601260004
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: PERRY MORGAN
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
Ralph Reed Jr. recently described the Christian Coalition, of which he's executive director, as the victim of stereotypes. Rather than being ``anti-woman'' as sometimes pictured, said Reed, lecturing at Old Dominion University, the Coalition has a membership predominantly female. And these members, he said, tend to be professionals rather than ``barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen.''
This comment conveyed positive images while suggesting his folks are being subjected to cruel ridicule. Lamentable if true. But Reed himself knows a good bit about caricaturing. Despite having a doctorate in history, he once described Bill Clinton as ``the most liberal president in the history of this country'' - according footnote status to Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson who built the welfare state which Clinton defends, on the one hand, while, on the other, parroting Republican plaints against it.
That aside, it might be of genuine interest to hear from Reed a clear description of what the Coalition is rather than what it's not. Its name is at once magnetic, powerful and, regarding use of the article The, misleading. In an interview last year with British journalist David Frost, Reed said ``we are not a church . . . not a denomination . . . not a ministry. We do not claim to, nor do we aspire to speak for every person of the Christian faith. There are many liberal Christians out there who are just as good a Christian as we are, who hold different views than us. . . .'' This seems to say that the Coalition is a coalition; thus the title continues to confuse.
The organization, moreover, has undergone a radical personality transplant. Founded by Pat Robertson, who sometimes displayed a hot temper and claimed divine guidance in politics, the Coalition now benefits from the masterly image-making skills of Reed. Though Reed has said he looks to Robertson for ``long-range vision,'' he himself has been the spokesman par excellence in a partisan political agenda in churchly garb and religious ribbons. This is no easy task, but Reed has an agile mind, a fetching manner and a persuasive way with language. It's hard to think of a political operative anywhere near as able; to half listen, perhaps, is to believe wholly what he says.
But no advocate is immune to fudging, and Reed can be as nervy as a burglar in imputing credit in great causes to the church and, inferentially, to his political organization.
In his ODU lecture he said the ``great social-reform movements'' - including temperance and civil rights - ``have always been birthed and cradled in our churches.'' Hmmmm. Is it possible to think of many churches sympathetic to the Christian Coalition that also aided and abetted the civil-rights movement?
Reed's youth denies him the first-hand knowledge of, say, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. who in 1963 wrote of such matters from the Birmingham jail. As follows, in part: ``I had the strange feeling when I was suddenly catapulted into the leadership of the bus protest in Montgomery several years ago that we would have the support of the white Church. I felt that the white ministers, priests, and rabbis of the South would be some of our strongest allies. Instead, some have been outright opponents, refusing to understand the freedom movement and misrepresenting its leaders; all too many others have been more cautious than courageous and have remained silent behind the anesthetising security of stained glass windows . . . we are moving toward the exit of the 20th century with a religious community largely adjusted to the status quo, standing as a tail light behind other community agencies rather than a headlight leading men to higher levels of justice. . . .''
Courts decided. Congress legislated. But blacks ultimately had to depend upon their own courage and sacrifice to burgeon out their rights - aided by their church but not much by the church as a whole. That is a fact worthy of great respect by all bystanders, including this one, and by late-comers.
Reed, at ODU, described ``political involvement fired by faith'' as ``the most distinguished, long-running, honorable tradition this country has to offer.'' Dr. King is a fine example. But who is it that (supposedly) harries and persecutes the Christian Coalitionists and keeps them from the public square? Pat Robertson certainly has had his turn at bat, and Reed claims his followers can tip the scales in any national election. Playing the victim while calling the tune is a hard act even for the ablest of political operatives. MEMO: Mr. Morgan is a former publisher of The Virginian-Pilot.
by CNB